IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/quaeco/v71y2019icp258-269.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Board gender diversity and the capital structure of microfinance institutions: A global analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Adusei, Michael
  • Obeng, Emmanuella Yaa Takyiwah

Abstract

As far as we know, the question of whether increasing gender diversity on boards of microfinance institutions carries any implications for their financing decisions has not been answered. To answer this question, we employ a global dataset from 441 microfinance institutions located in 69 countries to investigate the effect of board gender diversity on capital structure. A robust negative and statistically significant effect of board gender diversity on capital structure is produced by the three panel regression estimation techniques used in this paper. Our conclusion is that board gender diversity is a significant driver of MFI’s capital structure and that it decreases the gearing levels of MFIs and, by extension, lowers their exposure to bankruptcy risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Adusei, Michael & Obeng, Emmanuella Yaa Takyiwah, 2019. "Board gender diversity and the capital structure of microfinance institutions: A global analysis," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 258-269.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:71:y:2019:i:c:p:258-269
    DOI: 10.1016/j.qref.2018.09.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1062976918301169
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.qref.2018.09.006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joanna Ledgerwood & Victoria White, 2006. "Transforming Microfinance Institutions : Providing Full Financial Services to the Poor," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7086.
    2. Bin Srinidhi & Ferdinand A. Gul & Judy Tsui, 2011. "Female Directors and Earnings Quality," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1610-1644, December.
    3. Thorsten Beck & Patrick Behr & Andre Guettler, 2013. "Gender and Banking: Are Women Better Loan Officers?," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 17(4), pages 1279-1321.
    4. Stewart C. Myers & Nicholas S. Majluf, 1984. "Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions When Firms Have InformationThat Investors Do Not Have," NBER Working Papers 1396, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. N. Aktas & I. Bellettre, 2011. "Capital Structure Decisions of French Very Small Businesses," Post-Print halshs-01070068, HAL.
    6. Myers, Stewart C. & Majluf, Nicholas S., 1984. "Corporate financing and investment decisions when firms have information that investors do not have," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 187-221, June.
    7. Hans Degryse & Peter Goeij & Peter Kappert, 2012. "The impact of firm and industry characteristics on small firms’ capital structure," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 431-447, May.
    8. Bibi, Uzma & Balli, Hatice Ozer & Matthews, Claire D. & Tripe, David W.L., 2018. "New approaches to measure the social performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs)," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 88-97.
    9. Nihat Aktas & Ingrid Bellettre & Jean-Gabriel Cousin, 2011. "Capital Structure Decisions of French Very Small Businesses," Finance, Presses universitaires de Grenoble, vol. 32(1), pages 43-73.
    10. Murray Z. Frank & Vidhan K. Goyal, 2009. "Capital Structure Decisions: Which Factors Are Reliably Important?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(1), pages 1-37, March.
    11. Levi, Maurice & Li, Kai & Zhang, Feng, 2014. "Director gender and mergers and acquisitions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 185-200.
    12. Strøm, Reidar Øystein & D’Espallier, Bert & Mersland, Roy, 2014. "Female leadership, performance, and governance in microfinance institutions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 60-75.
    13. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    14. Alves, Paulo & Couto, Eduardo Barbosa & Francisco, Paulo Morais, 2015. "Board of directors’ composition and capital structure," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 1-32.
    15. Andrews,Donald W. K. & Stock,James H. (ed.), 2005. "Identification and Inference for Econometric Models," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521844413, January.
    16. Baltagi, Badi H. & Song, Seuck Heun & Koh, Won, 2003. "Testing panel data regression models with spatial error correlation," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 123-150, November.
    17. Berger, Allen N. & Kick, Thomas & Schaeck, Klaus, 2014. "Executive board composition and bank risk taking," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 48-65.
    18. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    19. Muriel Niederle & Lise Vesterlund, 2007. "Do Women Shy Away From Competition? Do Men Compete Too Much?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 1067-1101.
    20. Reint Gropp & Florian Heider, 2010. "The Determinants of Bank Capital Structure," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 14(4), pages 587-622.
    21. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean, 2001. "Boys will be Boys: Gender, Overconfidence, and Common Stock Investment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 116(1), pages 261-292.
    22. Gul, Ferdinand A. & Srinidhi, Bin & Ng, Anthony C., 2011. "Does board gender diversity improve the informativeness of stock prices?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 314-338, April.
    23. Ahmed, Ammad & Monem, Reza M. & Delaney, Deborah & Ng, Chew, 2017. "Gender diversity in corporate boards and continuous disclosure: Evidence from Australia," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 89-107.
    24. Neema Mori, 2014. "Directors' Diversity and Board Performance: Evidence from East African Microfinance Institutions," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 100-113, August.
    25. Adams, Renée B. & Ferreira, Daniel, 2009. "Women in the boardroom and their impact on governance and performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 291-309, November.
    26. Kraus, Alan & Litzenberger, Robert H, 1973. "A State-Preference Model of Optimal Financial Leverage," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 28(4), pages 911-922, September.
    27. Shahnaz Abdullah & Shakil Quayes, 2016. "Do women borrowers augment financial performance of MFIs?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(57), pages 5593-5604, December.
    28. Renate Schubert, 1999. "Financial Decision-Making: Are Women Really More Risk-Averse?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(2), pages 381-385, May.
    29. Myers, Stewart C., 1984. "Capital structure puzzle," Working papers 1548-84., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management.
    30. Sunden, Annika E & Surette, Brian J, 1998. "Gender Differences in the Allocation of Assets in Retirement Savings Plans," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 207-211, May.
    31. N. Aktas & I. Bellettre & Jean Gabriel Cousin, 2011. "Capital Structure Decisions of French Very Small Businesses," Post-Print halshs-00656169, HAL.
    32. Miller, Merton H, 1977. "Debt and Taxes," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 261-275, May.
    33. Beck, Thorsten & Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 2008. "Financing patterns around the world: Are small firms different?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(3), pages 467-487, September.
    34. Myers, Stewart C, 1984. "The Capital Structure Puzzle," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 39(3), pages 575-592, July.
    35. Julie Agnew & Pierluigi Balduzzi & Annika Sundén, 2003. "Portfolio Choice and Trading in a Large 401(k) Plan," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(1), pages 193-215, March.
    36. Allen Berger & Robert DeYoung & Mark Flannery & David Lee & Özde Öztekin, 2008. "How Do Large Banking Organizations Manage Their Capital Ratios?," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 34(2), pages 123-149, December.
    37. Stewart C. Myers, 1984. "Capital Structure Puzzle," NBER Working Papers 1393, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    38. Nihat Aktas & Ingrid Bellettre & Jean-Gabriel Cousin, 2011. "Capital structure decisions of French very small business," Post-Print hal-02312638, HAL.
    39. Hartarska, Valentina & Nadolnyak, Denis, 2008. "Does rating help microfinance institutions raise funds? Cross-country evidence," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 558-571, October.
    40. Huang, Jiekun & Kisgen, Darren J., 2013. "Gender and corporate finance: Are male executives overconfident relative to female executives?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(3), pages 822-839.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad & Yoshino, Naoyuki & Fukuda, Lisa, 2019. "Gender and Corporate Success: An Empirical Analysis of Gender-Based Corporate Performance on a Sample of Asian Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises," ADBI Working Papers 937, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    2. Adusei, Michael, 2021. "Interest rate and the social performance of microfinance institutions," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 21-30.
    3. Felix Kwabena Danso & Michael Adusei & Beatrice Sarpong-Danquah & Kwadwo Boateng Prempeh, 2024. "Board expertise diversity and firm performance in sub-Saharan Africa: do firm age and size matter?," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 10(1), pages 1-20, December.
    4. Beatrice Sarpong‐Danquah & Michael Adusei & Joseph Magnus Frimpong, 2023. "Effect of board gender diversity on the financial performance of microfinance institutions: Does judicial efficiency matter?," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(2), pages 495-518, June.
    5. García, C. José & Herrero, Begoña, 2021. "Female directors, capital structure, and financial distress," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 592-601.
    6. Adusei, Michael, 2019. "Board gender diversity and the technical efficiency of microfinance institutions: Does size matter?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 393-411.
    7. Aljughaiman, Abdullah A. & Cao, Ngan Duong & Trinh, Vu Quang & Albarrak, Mohammed & Vo, Xuan Vinh, 2023. "Does gender diversity affect financial strength differently in conventional and Islamic banks? Evidence from MENA countries," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    8. Filipe Sardo & Elisabete S. Vieira & Zélia Serrasqueiro, 2022. "The role of gender and succession on the debt adjustments of family firm capital structure," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 12(2), pages 349-372, June.
    9. Saleh F. A. Khatib & Dewi Fariha Abdullah & Ahmed A. Elamer & Raed Abueid, 2021. "Nudging toward diversity in the boardroom: A systematic literature review of board diversity of financial institutions," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 985-1002, February.
    10. Beatrice Sarpong‐Danquah & Michael Adusei & Joseph Magnus Frimpong, 2023. "The capital structure–firm performance nexus: The role of judicial efficiency," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(3), pages 1585-1600, April.
    11. Ali Amin & Ramiz ur Rehman & Rizwan Ali & Ridzwana Mohd Said, 2022. "Corporate Governance and Capital Structure: Moderating Effect of Gender Diversity," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440221, March.
    12. Hubert Tchakoute Tchuigoua, 2023. "Loan officer gender and loan repayment performance. Evidence from greenfield microfinance institutions in Cameroon1," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(2), pages 519-548, June.
    13. Michael Adusei, 2022. "The liquidity risk–financial performance nexus: Evidence from hybrid financial institutions," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(1), pages 31-47, January.
    14. Sarah Anobil Okyere & Vera Fiador & Emmanuel Sarpong‐Kumankoma, 2021. "Earnings management, capital structure, and the role of corporate governance: Evidence from sub‐Saharan Africa," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(6), pages 1525-1538, September.
    15. Mia, Md Aslam, 2022. "Do women on boards affect employee benefits? Evidence from the global microfinance industry," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    16. Md. Ali Rasel & Sandar Win, 2020. "Microfinance governance: a systematic review and future research directions," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 47(7), pages 1811-1847, April.
    17. Aminat Olayinka Olohunlana & Ngozi Bosede Adeleye & Somod Dapo Olohunlana & Hauwah K. K. AbdulKareem, 2022. "Gender heterogeneity and microfinance sustainability in Sub‐Saharan Africa," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 34(2), pages 232-243, June.
    18. Yaghoubi, Mona, 2024. "Executive characteristics as moderators: Exploring the impact of geopolitical risk on capital structure decisions," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    19. Ayman Hassan Bazhair, 2023. "Board Governance Mechanisms and Capital Structure of Saudi Non-Financial Listed Firms: A Dynamic Panel Analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(2), pages 21582440231, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hubert Tchakoute Tchuigoua, 2015. "Capital Structure of Microfinance Institutions," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 47(3), pages 313-340, June.
    2. García, C. José & Herrero, Begoña, 2021. "Female directors, capital structure, and financial distress," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 592-601.
    3. Fabrizio Rossi & Richard J. Cebula & James R. Barth, 2018. "Female representation in the boardroom and firm debt: empirical evidence from Italy," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 42(2), pages 315-338, April.
    4. McGuinness, Paul B., 2021. "Board member age, stock seasoning and the evolution of capital structure in Chinese firms," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(3).
    5. Alves, Paulo & Couto, Eduardo Barbosa & Francisco, Paulo Morais, 2015. "Board of directors’ composition and capital structure," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 1-32.
    6. Rizqa Anita & Giri Suseno & Muhammad Rasyid Abdillah & Nor Balkish Zakaria, 2024. "How Do Female Directors Moderate the Effect of Family Control on Firm Value and Leverage? Evidence from Indonesia," Indian Journal of Corporate Governance, , vol. 17(1), pages 102-129, June.
    7. Liu, Yin & Neely, Pamela & Karim, Khondkar, 2022. "The impact of CFO gender on corporate overinvestment," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    8. Alves, Paulo & Couto, Eduardo & Francisco, Paulo, 2014. "Board of directors’ composition and financing choices," MPRA Paper 52973, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2014.
    9. Hu, Jiamin & Li, Kailun & Xia, Yifei & Zhang, Jianing, 2023. "Gender diversity and financial flexibility: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    10. Kim, Sang-Joon & Bae, John & Oh, Hannah, 2019. "Financing strategically: The moderation effect of marketing activities on the bifurcated relationship between debt level and firm valuation of small and medium enterprises," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 663-681.
    11. Rana El Bahsh & Ali Alattar & Aziz N. Yusuf, 2018. "Firm, Industry and Country Level Determinants of Capital Structure: Evidence from Jordan," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 8(2), pages 175-190.
    12. Elif Acar & Gamze Vural & Emin Hüseyin Çetenak, 2020. "Evidence for Financial Hierarchy Theory in Capital Structure Decisions: Data from BIST Companies," Bogazici Journal, Review of Social, Economic and Administrative Studies, Bogazici University, Department of Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 29-50.
    13. Bayan M Arqawi & William J Bertin & Laurie Prather, 2014. "The impact of product warranties on the capital structure of Australian firms," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 39(2), pages 207-225, May.
    14. Nguyen, Thao & Bai, Min & Hou, Yang & Vu, Manh-Chien, 2021. "Corporate governance and dynamics capital structure: evidence from Vietnam," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    15. Krivogorsky, Victoria & Joh, Gun-Ho & DeBoskey, D.G., 2018. "The influence of supply side factors on firm's borrowing decisions: European evidence," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 202-222.
    16. Paul B. McGuinness, 2019. "The Role of Governance and Bank Funding in the Determination of Cornerstone Allocations in Chinese Equity Offers," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-20, July.
    17. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2012. "Market timing, taxes and capital structure: evidence from Vietnam," OSF Preprints t3mvs, Center for Open Science.
    18. Giorgio Canarella & Stephen M. Miller, 2019. "Determinants of Optimal Capital Structure and Speed of Adjustment: Evidence from the U.S. ICT Sector," Working papers 2019-06, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    19. Siqueira, Ana Cristina O. & Guenster, Nadja & Vanacker, Tom & Crucke, Saskia, 2018. "A longitudinal comparison of capital structure between young for-profit social and commercial enterprises," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 225-240.
    20. Temimi, Akram & Zeitun, Rami & Mimouni, Karim, 2016. "How does the tax status of a country impact capital structure? Evidence from the GCC region," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 37, pages 71-89.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:71:y:2019:i:c:p:258-269. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620167 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.